Fleury captures title at MCT season opener

Tracy Fleury's team from the East St. Paul Curling Club in East St. Paul, Man. won the Manitoba Curling Tour's Cargill Curling Training Centre Icebreaker event with a 5-3 win over Japan's Tori Koana in the final at the Morris Curling Club in Morris, Man. on Aug. 25, 2019. Left to right: Skip Fleury, third Selena Njegovan, second Liz Fyfe, lead Kristin MacCuish. (Photo credit: Twitter/@TeamTracyFleury)

Last year’s women’s provincial curling champions from the East St. Paul Curling Club didn’t waste any time earning their first title of the young 2019-20 season.

Tracy Fleury, along with third Selena Njegovan, second Liz Fyfe and lead Kristin MacCuish, won the Manitoba Curling Tour’s season-opening event, the Cargill Curling Training Centre Icebreaker, with a 5-3 win over Japan’s Tori Koana in the final in Morris on Aug. 25. For their efforts, Fleury’s squad will receive $2,060 in prize money.

The team, with Taylor McDonald filling in for Fyfe, had already opened its season earlier this month at the Hokkaido Bank Curling Classic in Sapporo, Japan where it finished fourth.

Fleury went undefeated at the bonspiel, winning against Japan’s Miki Hayashi 6-4 after being down 3-0 on Aug. 23. The next day, Fleury’s team needed an extra end to defeat Edmonton’s Laura Walker 5-4. In the semifinal, down 5-4 going into the eighth end, Fleury scored two against Japan’s Sayaka Yoshimura to win 6-5 and advance to the final against Koana.

After Fleury opened the game with a single in the first end, Koana scored a pair in the second for a 2-1 lead. Fleury tied the game 2-2 in the fourth, but Koana replied with a single in the sixth. Fleury took the lead with two in the seventh for a 4-3 lead and stole another point in the eighth to end the game.

Interlake curlers were also ubiquitous in the women’s event. Emilie Rafnson of East St. Paul and Sara Oliver of Marquette, second and lead, respectively, for Winnipeg’s Abby Ackland, lost both of their games to Winnipeg’s Theresa Cannon 6-2 and to Germany’s Daniela Jentsch 10-2. Cannon’s squad, which includes Arborg’s Vanessa Foster at second, later lost to Koana 8-4 and to Jentsch 7-4.

Darcy Robertson’s team from Winnipeg, which includes East St. Paul’s Laura Burtnyk at third, lost to Russia’s Alina Kovaleva 5-2 and to Yoshimura 7-1.

Horgan excels in debut event

Fleury’s brother Tanner Horgan had a decent showing with his new team out of the Winnipeg Beach Curling Club.

Horgan, with third Colton Lott of Sandy Hook, second Kyle Doering of East St. Paul and Lott’s brother Tanner at lead, reached the quarter-finals in the men’s event before losing 5-4 to Winnipeg’s Ty Dilello. Horgan, who will skip the team as its designated import player as both he and Fleury live in Sudbury, Ont., defeated Winnipeg’s Jacques Gauthier, whose lead is East St. Paul’s Zach Bilawka, by a score of 4-2 and later Minneapolis’ Rich Ruohonen 6-2 to advance to the playoffs.

JT Ryan’s team from Winnipeg, which included Bilawka’s brother Brendan at second, reached the semifinals before losing to eventual champion Jason Gunnlaugson 8-4.

Brett Walter’s team from Winnipeg, with Stonewall’s Thomas Dunlop at third, lost both of its games to Dilello 6-5 and to Japan’s Kohsuke Hirata 7-3.